478 KESTREL 



of species placed by Dr. Sharps {Cat. B. Br. Mus. i. pp. 423-448) 

 under the generic designation of Cerchneis (which should properly be 

 Tinnunculus) included "three natural groups sufhciently distinct to be 

 treated as at least separate subgenera, bearing the name of Dissodedes, 

 Tinmmculus, and Erythropus." Of these we may say that the first 

 and last are not at all Kestrels, but are perhaps rather related to 

 Hypotriorchis. Mr. Gurney's latest views as shewn in 1884 {List of 

 the Diurnal Birds of Prey, pp. 96-100) recognized 15 species of 

 Tinmmculns, with 5 subspecies. 



The ordinary Kestrel of Europe, T. alaudarius, is by far the 

 commonest Bird-of-Prey in the British Islands, and is too common 

 and well known to need any description. It is almost entirely a 



Kestrel. (After Swainson.) 



summer migrant, coming from the south in early spring and 

 departing in autumn, though examples (which are nearly always 

 found to be birds of the year) occasionally occur in winter, some 

 arriving on the eastern coast in autumn. It is most often observed 

 while practising its habit of hanging in the air for a minute or two 

 in the same spot, by rapid beats of its wings, as, with head pointing 

 to windward and expanded tail, it looks out for prey — consist- 

 ing chiefly of mice, but it will at times take a small bird, and the 

 remains of frogs, insects, and even earth-worms have been found in 

 its crop. It generally breeds in the deserted nest of a Crow or 

 Pie, but frequently in rocks, ruins, or even in hollow trees — laying 

 four or five eggs, mottled all over Avith dark brownish red, some- 

 times tinged with orange and at other times with purple. Though 

 it may occasionally snatch a young Partridge or Pheasant,^ the 

 Kestrel is quite the most harmless of the Accipitres, if it be not, 

 from its destruction of mice and cockchafers, the most beneficial. 

 It is a species of very Avide range, extending over nearly the Avhole 

 of Europe from 68° N. lat., and the greater part of Asia — though 

 the form which inhabits Japan and is abundant in north-eastern 

 China has been by some writers deemed distinct and called T. 

 japonicus — and it also pervades the greater jjart of Africa, becom- 



1 Where what are called "tame" Pheasants are bred, a Kestrel will often 

 contract the bad habit of infesting the coops and carrying off the young birds. 

 This evil may easily be stopped ; but it should not lead to the relentless perse- 

 cution of the species, especially when it is remembered that the Kestrel is in the 

 first place attracted to the spot by the presence of the mice which come to eat 

 the Pheasants' food. 



